Macro Musings with David Beckworth

Brian Knight is the Director of Innovation and Governance at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. Brian’s research focuses on numerous aspects of financial regulation, including the creation of pro-innovation regulatory environments, the role of federalism in fintech regulation, the use of digital assets for financial transactions, the role of regulation for credit markets and consumer protection, and the provision of capital to businesses. Brian joins David on Macro Musings to discuss the politicization of finance and its implications for policy. Specifically, Brian and David discuss the concept of reputational risk and its relevance for financial regulation, the extent and limits of ESG concerns in financial regulation, whether financial regulators are too political or not political enough, the present state as well as the future of ‘woke capitalism’, and much more.   Transcript for the episode can be found here.   Brian’s Twitter: @BrianRKnight Brian’s Mercatus profile   David’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth Follow us on Twitter: @Macro_Musings Click here for the latest Macro Musings episodes sent straight to your inbox!   Related Links:   *How Financial Regulatory Tools are Used Against Law-abiding Americans – and How to Fix It* by Brian Knight   *Climate Change is a Risk for Banks but it's Not the Only One* by Brian Knight   *Are Financial Regulators Too Political or Not Political Enough?* by Brian Knight

Lev Menand is an associate professor of law at Columbia University Law School and writes widely on legal issues surrounding the Federal Reserve. Lev rejoins Macro Musings to talk about his new book titled, *The Fed Unbound: Central Banking in a Time of Crisis.* Specifically, David and Lev discuss why the Fed can be considered unbound, the history of the Fed’s engagement with the shadow banking system, and Lev’s solutions for reform.   Transcript for the episode can be found here.   Lev’s Twitter: @LevMenand Lev’s Columbia Law profile   David’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth Follow us on Twitter: @Macro_Musings Click here for the latest Macro Musings episodes sent straight to your inbox!   Related Links:   *The Fed Unbound: Central Banking in a Time of Crisis* by Lev Menand   *Unappropriated Dollars: The Fed’s Ad Hoc Lending Facilities and the Rules That Govern Them* by Lev Menand

George Selgin is a senior fellow and director emeritus of the Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives at the Cato Institute. He is also the most frequent guest on Macro Musings, now appearing for his 12th time. In this episode, George and David identify and discuss their top three articles from the past few weeks related to macroeconomics and monetary policy. Specifically, George and Selgin discuss Lael Brainard’s recent speech defending the Fed’s prospects of issuing central bank digital currency, Janet Yellen’s concession about the path that inflation has taken, the governmental accounting of Federal Reserve losses and whether they amount to a net taxpayer burden, why the Dollar remains firm as the dominant currency in global markets, how an orthodox corridor system defaults into a floor system during times of crisis, and much more.   Transcript for the episode can be found here.   George’s Twitter: @GeorgeSelgin George’s Cato profile   David’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth Follow us on Twitter: @Macro_Musings Click here for the latest Macro Musings episodes sent straight to your inbox!   Related Links:   *No, Fed, Unrealized Losses are Real Losses for Taxpayers* by Bill Nelson   *Preparing for the Financial System of the Future* speech by Lael Brainard at the 2022 U.S. Monetary Policy Forum   *What if the Federal Reserve Books Losses Because of its Quantitative Easing?* by Willam B. English and Donald Kohn    *From Burns to Powell*, a Macro Musings podcast episode with Guest Donald Kohn and host David Beckworth   *Treasury Secretary Concedes She Was Wrong on 'Path That Inflation Would Take'* By Kevin Liptak and Paul LeBlanc   *How Monetary Policy Got Behind The Curve And How To Get Back: A Policy Conference* Hoover Institution, Stanford University   *Jack Dorsey is Wrong. The Dollar is Still a Global Reserve Currency* by Mark Copelovitch   *A Model of Credit, Money, Interest, and Prices* by Saki Bigio and Yuliy Sannikov

Christine McDaniel is a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center where she focuses on trade and intellectual property rights issues. Christine previously held several positions in the US government, including deputy assistant secretary at the Treasury Department and senior trade economist in the White House Council of Economic Advisors. She has also worked in the economic offices of the US Department of Commerce, US Trade Representative, and the US International Trade Commission. Christine rejoins Macro Musings to talk about the economic sanctions applied to Russia, and their implication for the Russian economy and globalization more generally. Specifically, David and Christine also discuss the structure and effectiveness of the Russia sanctions, the war’s heavy impact on food shortages, the role of dollar dominance in geopolitics, and more.   Transcript for the episode can be found here.   Christine’s Twitter: @christinemcdan Christine’s Mercatus profile: https://www.mercatus.org/scholars/christine-mcdaniel   Related Links:   *We’ve Never Seen a Country Go Backwards as Quickly as Russia* by Christine McDaniel https://thehill.com/opinion/international/3487291-weve-never-seen-a-country-go-backwards-as-quickly-as-russia/   *Estimating the Economic Effects of Sanctions on Russia: An Allied Trade Embargo* by Kornel Mahlstein, Christine McDaniel, Simon Schropp, and Marinos Tsigas https://cadmus.eui.eu/bitstream/handle/1814/74493/RSC_WP_2022_36.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y   *Potential Economic Effects of Sanctions on Russia: An Allied Trade Embargo* by Kornel Mahlstein, Christine McDaniel, Simon Schropp, and Marinos Tsigas https://voxeu.org/article/potential-economic-effects-allied-trade-embargo-russia   *US Sanctions Reinforce the Dollar’s Dominance* by Michael P. Dooley, David Folkerts-Landau, and Peter M. Garber https://www.nber.org/papers/w29943#:~:text=Recent%20sanctions%20on%20the%20use,shock%20absorber%E2%80%9D%20for%20international%20payments.   David’s blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com David’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

Manmohan Singh is a senior economist at the International Monetary Fund and works on rehypothecation, shadow banking, the plumbing of the monetary system, and more. Manmohan joins Macro Musings to talk about stablecoins, central bank balance sheets, central bank digital currencies, and their broader implication for central banks. David and Manmohan specifically discuss the role and structure of stablecoins, the impact of collateral within the financial system, how the Fed have looked to address plumbing issues within this system, and more.   Take the Macro Musings listener survey here.   Transcript for the episode can be found here.   Manmohan’s VoxEU profile: https://voxeu.org/users/manmohansingh0 Manmohan’s Risk.net archive: https://www.risk.net/author/manmohan-singh   Related Links:   *Interoperability of Stablecoins* by Manmohan Singh, Caitlin Long, and Charles Kahn https://www.centralbanking.com/fintech/7892256/interoperability-of-stablecoins   *How to Stop Stablecoins from Hoarding Precious Collateral* by Manmohan Singh and Caitlin Long https://www.risk.net/comment/7948696/how-to-stop-stablecoins-from-hoarding-precious-collateral   *Money is Privacy* by Charles Kahn, James McAndrews, and William Roberds https://www.jstor.org/stable/3663561   *Investors Withdraw Over $7 Billion from Tether, Raising Fresh Fears About Stablecoin’s Backing* by Ryan Browne https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/17/tether-usdt-redemptions-fuel-fears-about-stablecoins-backing.html   David’s blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com David’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

Bill Nelson is the Chief Economist and an Executive Vice President at the Bank Policy Institute. Bill previously was a deputy director at the Division of Monetary Affairs at the Federal Reserve Board where his responsibilities included monetary policy analysis, discount window policy analysis, and financial institution supervision. He also worked closely with the BIS on the design of liquidity regulation. Bill joins David on Macro Musings to discuss the Fed's balance sheet, its reduction plans and how the Fed fell behind the curve. Specifically, David and Bill get into whether the Fed regretted its premature tightening period from 2015 to 2018, how the Fed’s focus on the baseline outlook left it not resilient to alternative developments, how concerns over another taper tantrum impacted the Fed’s decision-making, the Fed’s handling of its FAIT framework, and much more. Take the Macro Musings listener survey here.   Transcript for the episode can be found here.   Bill’s Bank Policy Institute profile: https://bpi.com/people/bill-nelson/ Bill’s American Banker archive: https://www.americanbanker.com/author/william-nelson-ab3618   Related Links: “Plane Crashes and Falling Behind the Curve” by Bill Nelson https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/plane-crashes-falling-behind-curve-bill-nelson/?trk=articles_directory “Guest post: A former Fed insider explains the internal debate over QE3” by Bill Nelson https://www.ft.com/content/254befb7-10f8-3f2c-a9a8-bc6226a6f1db "The Potential Ineffectiveness of Policy at the Zero Bound" (Memo to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors) by Bill Nelson and Brian Sack https://www.dropbox.com/s/fv21og7vpx1izml/BillNelsonMemo.pdf?dl=0  “Interpreting the Significance of the Lagged Interest Rate in Estimated Monetary Policy Rules” by William B. English, William R. Nelson, and Brian P. Sack https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=314425   David’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth David’s blog: http://macromarketmusings.blogspot.com/

Josh Hendrickson is Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Mississippi and Chair of the Economics Department. Josh joins David on Macro Musings to discuss US monetary policy and US defense policy. Specifically, Josh and David discuss the coordination of fiscal and monetary policy and what Milton Friedman would think of it today, the Fed’s responsibility for modern inflation trends, state capacity and how it impacts economic growth, the role of national defense in the context of state capacity and economic growth, and much more.   Take the Macro Musings listener survey here.   Transcript for the episode can be found here.   Josh’s Twitter: @RebelEconProf Josh’s Ole Miss profile: https://economics.olemiss.edu/joshua-hendrickson/   Related Links:   *Central Banks are Inflation Creators, Not Inflation Fighters* by Joshua R. Hendrickson https://www.mercatus.org/publications/monetary-policy/central-banks-are-inflation-creators-not-inflation-fighters   *Evolution, Uncertainty, and the Asymptotic Efficiency of Policy* by Brian C. Albrecht, Joshua R. Hendrickson, and Alexander William Salter https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3251917   *The Coronavirus and Lessons for Preparedness* by Josh Hendrickson https://www.mercatus.org/publications/covid-19-crisis-response/coronavirus-and-lessons-preparedness   *Preventing Plunder, Military Technology, Capital Accumulation and Economic Growth* by Brian C. Albrecht, Joshua R. Hendrickson, and Alexander William Salter https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3025548   David’s blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com David’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

Peter Ireland is a professor of economics at Boston College, a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and a member of the Shadow Open Market Committee. Peter has also been a visiting scholar at numerous Federal Reserve Banks and is a returning guest to the podcast. He rejoins Macro Musings to talk about U.S. monetary policy during the pandemic and what the path forward looks like for the Fed and the policy landscape. David and Peter also discuss the current state of macroeconomics, including the most influential and popular business cycle theories, the present direction of policy macro, and whether or not the Fed’s current framework should shoulder blame for its pandemic policy missteps.     Take the Macro Musings listener survey here.   Transcript for the episode can be found here.   Peter’s Twitter: @PIrelandEcon Peter’s Boston College profile: https://www.bc.edu/bc-web/schools/mcas/departments/economics/people/faculty-directory/peter-ireland.html   Related Links:   *The Continuing Case for Nominal GDP Level Targeting* by Peter Ireland http://irelandp.com/papers/somc202204.pdf   *Targeting Nominal Income Under the Zero Lower Bound: The Case of the Bank of England* by Michael Belongia and Peter Ireland https://centerforfinancialstability.org/amfm/studies/ukngdp2021.pdf   *Strengthening the Second Pillar: A Greater Role for Money in the ECB’s Strategy* by Michael Belongia and Peter Ireland http://irelandp.com/papers/eurongdp.pdf   *Facts, Fears, and Functionality of NGDP Level Targeting: A Guide to a Popular Framework for Monetary Policy* by David Beckworth https://www.mercatus.org/system/files/beckworth-ngdp-targeting-mercatus-special-study-v2.pdf   *How to Ensure That Inflation Will Remain at the Federal Reserve’s 2 Percent Target* by Robert Hetzel https://www.mercatus.org/publications/monetary-policy/how-ensure-inflation-will-remain-federal-reserve%E2%80%99s-2-percent-target   David’s blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com David’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

Jens van 't Klooster is a political economist at the University of Amsterdam's Department of Political Science. Jens rejoins David on Macro Musings to discuss the changes taking place at the European Central Bank. Specifically, Jens and David talk about the ECB’s recent commitment to a gradual process of monetary tightening, the prospect and limitations of market neutrality in setting monetary policy, the rise of technocratic Keynesianism and questions surrounding the political legitimacy of the ECB’s recent policy decisions, as well as the politics surrounding the ECB’s approach to government debt.   Take our listener survey here.   Transcript for the episode can be found here.   Jens’s Twitter: @jvklooster Jens’s website: https://jensvantklooster.com/   Related Links:   *The Myth of Market Neutrality: A Comparative Study of the European Central Bank’s and the Swiss National Bank’s Corporate Security Purchases* by Jens van ’t Klooster and Clément Fontan https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13563467.2019.1657077   *Technocratic Keynesianism: A Paradigm Shift Without Legislative Change* by Jens van ’t Klooster https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13563467.2021.2013791   *The Politics of the ECB’s Market-Based Approach to Government Debt* by Jens van ’t Klooster https://academic.oup.com/ser/advance-article/doi/10.1093/ser/mwac014/6554757   David’s blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com David’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

Colin Grabow is a policy analyst at the Cato Institute’s Center for Trade Policy Studies, and he joins Macro Musings to talk about US trade policies, the Jones Act, and the consequences of this harmful maritime statute. Specifically, David and Colin also discuss the counterfactual world of TPP, the future of international trade, and how to fix the myriad of problems caused by the Jones Act.   Transcript for the episode can be found here.   Colin’s Twitter: @cpgrabow Colin’s Cato Institute profile: https://www.cato.org/people/colin-grabow   Related Links:   Cato’s Project on Jones Act Reform: https://www.cato.org/project-jones-act-reform   *The Jones Act: A Burden America Can No Longer Bear* by Colin Grabow, Inu Manak, and Daniel Ikenson https://www.cato.org/publications/policy-analysis/jones-act-burden-america-can-no-longer-bear   *Rust Buckets: How the Jones Act Undermines U.S. Shipbuilding and National Security* by Colin Grabow https://www.cato.org/policy-analysis/rust-buckets-how-jones-act-undermines-us-shipbuilding-national-security   *The Progressive Case for Jones Act Reform* by Colin Grabow https://www.cato.org/study/progressive-case-jones-act-reform#:~:text=The%20Jones%20Act%20is%20unwise,repeal%2C%20of%20this%20odious%20law   *Candy-Coated Cartel: Time to Kill the U.S. Sugar Program* by Colin Grabow https://www.cato.org/policy-analysis/candy-coated-cartel-time-kill-us-sugar-program   *5 Years Later and the United States is Still Paying for Its TPP Blunder* by Colin Grabow https://www.cato.org/blog/5-years-later-united-states-still-paying-tpp-blunder   *The Cato Trade Team’s 2022 Policy Wish List* by Scott Lincicome, Inu Manak, Gabriella Beaumont-Smith & Colin Grabow https://www.cato.org/blog/cato-trade-teams-2022-policy-wish-list   *For Inflation Relief, the United States Should Look to Trade Liberalization* by Gary Clyde Hufbauer, Megan Hogan, & Yilin Wang https://www.piie.com/publications/policy-briefs/inflation-relief-united-states-should-look-trade-liberalization#:~:text=For%20inflation%20relief%2C%20the%20United%20States%20should%20look%20to%20trade%20liberalization,-Gary%20Clyde%20Hufbauer&text=With%20US%20inflation%20running%20at,calls%20anticompetitive%20behavior%20by%20corporations   *Biden’s Frozen Trade Policy* by Anne Krueger https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/trump-trade-policy-frozen-in-place-under-biden-by-anne-o-krueger-2022-02?barrier=accesspaylog   *Clashing over Commerce: A History of US Trade Policy* by Douglas Irwin https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/C/bo24475328.html   David’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth David’s blog: http://macromarketmusings.blogspot.com/